The present invention relates to a pan for an industrial deep-fryer, especially adapted for cooking successive proportioned amounts of frozen foods consumable after frying and for distributing the cooked foods into cups.
The deep-fryer of the present invention may be constructed in the form of a coin or token operated machine for distributing foods on user demand. For example, the food may be potato chips or any other foods able to be frozen and then cooked by frying, such as for example, fishcakes, fritters etc.
Industrial deep-fryers of the general above-mentioned type are already known. However, they have not met with commercial success because of disappointing results attendant their use. In particular, a major problem with the known devices is that the frying oil is exposed to air and light.
Therefore, there is provided an industrial deep fryer and a pan for an industrial deep fryer which does not suffer this operational disadvantage.
In the deep-fryer of the invention, the frying pan is formed with a hermetically sealed enclosure comprising a lateral door for loading and unloading a perforated basket adapted to dipping the foods in the oil in the pan, this perforated basket being extended at its upper part, on the door side, by a deflector integral with the door so that opening of the door exposes at least part of the deflector to the outside of the enclosure.
Advantageously, the bottom of the deflector is coextensive with the door and the bottom of the door is pivotably mounted on the wall of the enclosure. Thus, the frying pan only opens outwardly for loading and unloading the basket. The movement of the basket is connected to that of the door, which eliminates the need for a special mechanism for removing the basket from the pan.
In known deep-fryers, an open pan is included in a cabinet which comprises means for circulating air between an air inlet and an air outlet formed in the walls of the cabinet, with a filtering device placed therebetween in the air outlet circuit.
Ventilating means sucks in the ambient air, causes it to flow in the vicinity of the oil during use and discharges it into the atmosphere. The inevitable result is pollution, because the volume of air handled is high and because the filtering device is generally insufficient.
According to the invention, downstream of the filtering device, the air circuit is connected to the air inlet. The volume of air in which the frying takes place is not discharged into the atmosphere. Rather, it flows in a closed circuit, while the greases which it conveys are removed therefrom after having passed over the surface of the frying oil, by the filtering device. Using this arrangement, filtering is carried out more efficiently because the volume of air treated by the filter is small. Water vapor driven from the foods during frying is condensed outside the pan and discharged before the air is recycled.
It is not indispensable for the filtering device to remove the odors which may exist in the recirculated air flow since these odors are greatly reduced by the care taken in conserving the oil and since, in any case, they are only perceptible inside the closed pan.
In known machines, the frozen foods to be fried are stored in a thermally insulated compartment and maintained at an appropriate temperature and, channelled by a hopper, they fall either into a hollow measure in a cylinder stopping up the opening of the hopper, in which case the proportioning of each portion is volumetric, or on to the scale of a balance, in which case the porportioning is by weight. It is to this second type of machine that the invention pertains.
More precisely, the unit for conserving frozen foods and proportioning successive portions of these foods comprises a thermally insulated closed compartment maintained at an appropriate temperature, which compartment comprises:
a frozen food container opening on to a conveyor means;
conveyor means collecting the foods coming from the container and feeding them to the receiving scale of a balance;
a balance whose scale receiving products to be weighed comprises discharge means which open above an aperture formed in the wall of the compartment;
means controlling the advance of the conveyor means in response to indications supplied by the balance; and
means controlling the operation of the means for discharging the receiving scale of the balance, in response to external solicitation.
In a preferred embodiment, the receiving scale of the balance is in the form of a dish whose bottom is formed by bringing together the free edges of separate elements forming the dish, these elements being pivotally mounted so as to be able to move closer together (weighing position) or to move away from each other (position for discharging the weighed portion).
Thus, the weighed foods fall naturally through the open bottom of the dish and cannot be crushed by any moving part.